Nice thread Jay, I'll add some stuff! 1) Be clear about your skills -what you want to do or what you see yourself as, ie:animator, fx td, generalist and so on. Keep the reel to the point of what you are. Keep in mind that if you're starting out as a junior artist no one is expecting you to have tons of production work because how could you? It's much better to have 1-2 well made scenes than 10 scenes with flaws so focus your efforts. Here's an example of this from Sergej Zlahtic at Media Design School. You can read an interview with him about his student experiences here. 2) If you are a modeler like myself, 360 degree turntable models are essential. Usually with shaded wire frame models fading to AO renders. 6)Backgrounds....mmm always a tricky one. Alot of people render on a black backgrounds....looks cool but dont do it. Render on a 50% grey. It means the model is neither in progress or finished. Its only finished once its on the movie screen. In terms of color unless you know exactly what you're doing stay within grey scale ranging from black to white because it's safe and looks clean and professional. Tutorial on how to render ambient occlusion in mental ray How to Render Wireframe on Shaded 5) Playblasts of animated objects are allowed. I've seen this on many animator reels...but makes sure the res is high enough Most animators I know tend to update their reels a lot and add things during the blocking stage. For some examples of this, you can have a look at these interviews which contains good animation reels, tips and resources; An Interview with Gabriele Ranfagni - Senior Animator An Interview with Josh Burton - Senior Animator If you want to work in VFX in the UK, read this; Junior Artist in VFX - An Interview with Dominic Edwards Senior Artist in VFX - An Interview with Jason Edwards The Core Skills of VFX Guide If you want to work in the game industry, read this; Working in the Game Industry - An Interview with Mike McKinley A Game Artist's Blog 2000-2011 Finally look at reels posted online from junior artists at the kind of companies you want to work for, and make sure your work meets the industry standard so you don't send it around and end up wondering why no one ever gets back to you. And keep in mind that applying for runner positions as well as junior artist will increase your chances and it's a good way to get a foot in the door.